in Glamorganshire. Eight years later, in 1817, he brought out ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of British Shells,’ in 2 vols. 8vo, followed in 1823 by ‘An Index to the Historia Conchyliorum of Lister,’ folio, printed at the Oxford Clarendon Press at the cost of the university, which on this occasion offered him the honorary degree of D.C.L., which honour he declined.
In 1832 he was returned to the first reformed parliament as member for Glamorganshire, of which he had been a magistrate for some years, and high sheriff in 1818. The freedom of the borough of Swansea was presented to him in 1834, and from 1835 to 1840 he served as alderman and mayor. He gave up parliamentary duties in 1837. In the previous year his ‘Contribution towards a History of Swansea’ produced 150l. for the benefit of the Swansea infirmary, the profit of three hundred copies which he gave for that purpose. He cordially welcomed the British Association to Swansea in 1848, was one of the vice-presidents of that meeting, and produced for the occasion his ‘Flora and Fauna of Swansea.’ This was his last literary production; his health gradually declined, and for some years before his death he withdrew from outside pursuits. He died at Sketty Hall on 31 Aug. 1855, leaving two sons and two daughters. He was thoroughly upright in all his dealings, and a liberal and active country gentleman. He apparently ceased to be a Friend in marrying out of the society. Besides several minor papers, the following may be specially mentioned: 1. ‘British Confervæ,’ London, 1802–1809, 4to, (part) translated into German by Weber and Mohr, Goett. 1803–5, 8vo. 2. ‘Coleopterous Insects found in the neighbourhood of Swansea.’ 3. ‘Catalogue of more Rare Plants in the environs of Dover.’ 4. ‘Review of the references to the Hortus Malabaricus of Rheede to Drakensheim,’ Swansea, 1839, 8vo. 4. ‘Hortus Collinsonianus,’ Swansea, 1843, 8vo (an account of Peter Collinson's garden at Mill Hill in the eighteenth century, from the unpublished manuscript).
[Proc. Linn. Soc. 1856, p. 36; Jackson's Lit. of Botany, p. 540; Cat. Scientific Papers, ii. 205; Smith's Friends' Books, i. 582–3.]
DILLY, CHARLES (1739–1807), bookseller, was born 22 May 1739 at Southill in Bedfordshire, of a good yeoman family which had been settled in that county for a couple of centuries. After making a short trip to America, he returned to London, his elder brother, Edward [q. v.], took him into partnership, and the business was carried on under their joint names. They published Boswell's ‘Corsica,’ Chesterfield's ‘Miscellaneous Works,’ and many other standard books. Being staunch dissenters they naturally dealt much in the divinity of that school. In their dealings with authors they were liberal, and Charles in particular was known for his kindness to young aspirants. They were extremely hospitable, and gave excellent dinners described in the memoirs of the period. Johnson was frequently their guest, and as such had his famous meeting with Wilkes, 15 May 1776, with whom he dined a second time, 8 May 1781, at the same table (Boswell, Life, iii. 67–79, iv. 101–7). Johnson, Goldsmith, Boswell, Wilkes, Cumberland, Knox, Reed, Parr, Rogers, Hoole, Priestley, Thomson, and Sutton Sharpe were among those frequently to be found at the Poultry dinners. On the death of his brother Edward in 1779, Charles Dilly continued the business alone, and kept up the hospitality for which the two had been famous. He published Boswell's ‘Tour to the Hebrides’ in 1780, the first edition of the ‘Life of Johnson’ in 1791, the second in 1793, and the third in 1799. Boswell wrote an ‘Horatian Ode’ to him (Nichols, Illustrations, ii. 664). He was invited to become an alderman for the ward of Cheap in 1782, but retired in favour of Boydell. A plea of nonconformity excused him from the office of sheriff. The extent and variety of his publications are shown in the contents of ‘a catalogue of books printed for and sold by Charles Dilly,’ 32 pp. 12mo, issued in 1787. In 1803 he was master of the Stationers' Company. After a prosperous career of more than forty years he retired in favour of Joseph Mawman, who had been in business in York. He continued his literary dinner-parties at his new house in Brunswick Row, Queen Square, and lived here a few years before his death, which took place at Ramsgate, while on a visit to Cumberland, on 4 May 1807. He was buried 12 May, in the cemetery of St. George the Martyr, Queen Square. He left a fortune of nearly 60,000l.
Dilly, John (1731–1806), the eldest of the three brothers, Boswell's ‘Squire Dilly,’ had no direct connection with the business, and lived upon the family property at Southill, where he was visited on a well-known occasion by Johnson and Boswell, in June 1781 (Life of Johnson, iv. 118–32; other references to him, i. 260, ii. 247, iii. 396). He was high sheriff in 1783, and died 18 March 1806, aged 75, at Clophill in Bedfordshire, a kind of model farm purchased by Charles a few years before. He, his two brothers, and an only sister were unmarried. Martha, the sister, died 22 Jan. 1803, in her sixty-second year.
